Half of Garrion Bridge opening - but best avoided

Helen McCall

South Lanarkshire Council’s roads experts have just announced that Garrion is partly reopening, with traffic signals.

But the old bridge remains shut, and they recommend that drivers should still avoid it.

They expect it to reopen full tomorrow at 5am.

Roads engineers have been assessing the damage caused when a water main burst yesterday, causing the closure of the bridge - two parallel spans across the Clyde act as a huge roundabout linking the A71 down from Carluke and Overtown with the A72 Clyde Valley road.

The closure has caused major disruption. Only traffic northbound from Lanark, which by-passes the two-bridge roundabout formation on the A72 Clydeside Road, has been able to get through, with journeys taking hours for other drivers on lengthy diversions.

*Scottish Water engineers worked through the night to restore normal supplies to customers affected by the burst water main.

Some households in the Shawburn, Ashgill, Garrion Bridge, Overtown, Gowkthrapple and Netherton areas experienced disruption, and normal supplies were restored to most affected customers by about 8am today.

Scottish Water warn that a small number of properties might be affected by air locks in the system, which could delay restoration of normal supplies to their properties, but are working to resolve this as soon as possible.

Some properties might be affected by discoloured water. This can happen following a burst and they advise customers to run the cold water tap in their kitchen gently until the water clears.